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The Making of the Watcher in the Water
© Lotrscenerybuilder 2007
Inspired by Dave Taylor, who designed a model of "The Guardian of the Doors of Durin", to be used with the LOTR miniatures of Games Workshop, we decided to build a Sabertooth Combat-Hex-version of the Watcher in the Water.
For starters, we used some small bits of MDF to construct a crude body of the monster.
Small pieces of cardboard were used to create the 'cheeks' of the Watcher; bits of a chopstick were added as the beginnings of the tentacles. The 4-hex-base soon proved to be too small as the ear-flaps of the creature didn't fit within the available space.
Next, it became a matter of modelling the body with ordinary filler. We added a few layers as the stuff doesn't dry up smoothly when used in large quantities. A few cocktail sticks lost their extremities in order to give this monster a good set of teeth.
Two nails were hammered carefully through the head to act as eyes, but only after drilling two small holes first - this, in order to prevent the brains from exploding.
Again, we used MDF for the construction of the eight tentacles, each one filed and polished into a wriggling S-curve. Three small claws were attached to the extremities, with filler masking the joints.
The floppy ears were made from slightly bent bits of cardboard, as were the eyelids and the eye bags.
Another seven hexes were added to the monsters' 7-hex-base, to act as bases for the tentacles. Two tentacles were placed together on the front hex.
Although the original Weta-Watcher seems to possess a multitude of earflaps, sprouting from all sides of the head, we decided that only three flaps on each side of her pretty face would suffice.
Filler was used again to give the ears a 'fleshy' texture and to add some bumps on them, as well as on the back of the head.
Yes Ma'am, it looks great from the rear as well!
Next, we immersed the head and the tentacles with a thick layer of ordinary wood glue to give the skin a smooth appearance.
The painting wasn't all too difficult. We used our trusty spray cans for a basecoat of anthracite-grey, followed by some careful whiffs of white and red for the fronts of the tentacles, and metallic-blue and green for the back sides. A thick layer of varnish made our Watcher shine like a jellied eel.
Finally, her ladyship was ready to go into battle!
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